Tracking Sand

By Krishna Rau

Those owning beachfront property in Spain are getting a little closer to the ocean than they may want.

A study by Spain’s environment ministry predicts that beaches will shrink by an average of 15 metres by 2050 as sea levels increase by 2.5 millimetres a year and stronger waves and currents erode the coastline. Some beaches could vanish completely, the study reports. Hotel owners on the southern Costa del Sol are already asking to bring in their own sand as beaches begin to shrink.

It also warns that important wetland sites could be affected as well. The Albufera laguna south of Valencia,the delta of the River Ebro in the country’s northeast and Dóana National Park in southwest Spain—one of Europe’s biggest nature reserves—will be affected by rising water levels and higher salinity.

Meanwhile, the Chinese are faced with more sand than they know what to do with. About a quarter of China’s landmass is composed of desert, but that figure is growing. The Gobi Desert, for example, has expanded by about 65,000 square kilometres since 1994, and is now within 160 kilometres of Beijing, blanketing the city under nearly 500,000 tonnes of sand a year.

Chinese officials estimate that the problem costs the country about US$7.7 billion a year and that 4,000 villages have already disappeared under the sand.

The leading cause of China’s desertification is thought to be overgrazing by the increasing numbers of sheep and cattle needed to satisfy the country’s growing desire for meat. The animals are simply eating much of the vegetation that keeps the soil from blowing away.

With the 2008 Olympics in Beijing , Chinese officials increased efforts to combat the spreading sands. They launched a massive program to replant vegetation, especially trees and grass, and are even seeding clouds to create precipitation in the arid areas.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 1st, 2011 at 1:00 pm and is filed under On the Fringe. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site. Add to del.icio.us.